What to Expect From HBOT?

If you’re a Chicago resident and you’d like to know how Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy could improve your health and well-being, HBOT Chicago’s clinics and facilities are ready to provide you top quality Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, an incredible new technology that allows patients to recover from harmful, debilitating conditions such as:

Carbon monoxide poisoning
Cyanide poisoning
Crush injuries
Gas gangrene (a form of gangrene in which gas collects in tissues)
Decompression sickness
Acute or traumatic reduced blood flow in the arteries
Compromised skin grafts and flaps
Infection in a bone (osteomyelitis) that doesn’t respond to other treatment
Delayed radiation injury
Flesh-eating disease (necrotizing soft tissue infection)
Air or gas bubble trapped in a blood vessel (air or gas embolism)
Chronic infection called actinomycosis
Diabetic wounds that are not healing properly

However, hyperbaric oxygen therapy remains a relatively uncommon procedure that new patients often find intimidating. Although the name sounds complicated, the procedure itself is a safe and comfortable process, with overall benefits that are well worth the time.

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the medical application of oxygen at pressures higher than those found in our atmosphere.

Ordinarily, the air we breathe contains 21% oxygen.

To treat a range of illnesses, hyperbaric medicine uses 100% oxygenated air at increased ambient pressure.

When you breathe pure oxygen at high air pressures, over 20 times the amount of oxygen is dissolved into your bloodstream – specifically in your red blood cells and plasma – and is delivered to wounded organs and tissue.

This dissolved oxygen can reach areas of the body where oxygen-transferring red blood cells are normally unable to revive tissue due to a lack of blood flow.

Increased oxygen levels in tissues promote healing, migration of white blood cells towards infection, formation of new blood vessels, and hence stimulation of fibroblasts that produce new tissues.

What To Expect When Undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Simply sit back, relax, and breathe normally during hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Before your initial session, you will meet with a credentialed physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant.

This consult, which is normally covered by insurance for all diseases, is to evaluate you for HBOT, check there are no contraindications, and establish the best protocol for your condition(s) to fulfill your health goals. This appointment will last approximately one hour.

During this time, your consulting provider will also explain how the science behind hyperbaric oxygen therapy works to benefit the body.

You will receive an orientation on what is required before you begin treatments, as well as the daily routine of preparing for each session.

Finally, your possible insurance coverage and/or any expenses related with your care will be reviewed.

A technician will check your vitals and go over a safety checklist with you at the start of each session, ensuring you have removed all jewelry, watches, and electronic devices and are clear of lotions and scents.

They will also offer you a 100% cotton gown and blanket for a safe and pleasant experience, a water bottle to carry into the chamber, and a grounding bracelet to avoid static electricity. As the chamber pressurizes, the water bottle might help clean your ears.

When you’re inside the hyperbaric chamber, the technician will play music, a movie, or a television show of your choosing. You might also opt to sleep.

Throughout the treatment, a technician will be there beside the chamber to assist you, especially when you drop to your prescribed depth, where you may experience an ear-popping sensation (similar to flying in an airplane) and answer any requirements or queries you may have.

Finally, the technician will take your vitals again at the end of the session.

Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

HBOT promotes wound healing by delivering oxygen-rich plasma to oxygen-depleted tissue.

Wounds damage the body’s blood vessels, causing fluid to flow into the tissues and create swelling. This swelling deprives injured cells of oxygen, causing tissue to die.

HBOT lowers edema while supplying oxygen to the tissues. The higher the pressure in the chamber, the more oxygen there is in the blood.

The goal of HBOT is to disrupt the cycle of swelling, oxygen deprivation, and tissue death.

HBOT inhibits “reperfusion injury,” which is significant tissue damage caused when blood flow returns to tissues that have been deprived of oxygen.

When blood flow is disrupted, as in a crush injury, a chain of events inside the injured cells causes the production of damaging oxygen radicals.

These chemicals can cause irreversible tissue harm. They induce blood arteries to constrict and prevent blood flow.

HBOT stimulates the body’s oxygen radical scavengers to seek out the problematic molecules, allowing repair to proceed.

HBOT inhibits the function of dangerous germs while also strengthening the body’s immune system.

Certain bacteria’s toxins can be rendered inactive by HBOT. It also raises the concentration of oxygen in the tissues—this aids in their resistance to infection. Furthermore, the treatment boosts white blood cell ability to detect and eliminate intruders.

HBOT promotes the growth of new collagen and skin cells. It accomplishes this by stimulating the formation of new blood vessels. It also increases the production of certain cell chemicals, such as vascular endothelial growth factor. These draw and activate endothelial cells, which are required for healing.

How do the Mechanics of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy work?

The use of prescription high-pressure oxygen to treat a number of health ailments and diseases is what hyperbaric oxygen therapy is known for. Each cell in the body requires oxygen to maintain, repair, and improve cellular function. Breathing 100% oxygen at pressures higher than sea level floods the body with enriched oxygen, resulting in a cascade of good effects.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is described as the procedure of breathing in 100% oxygen in a pressured chamber at 1.4 ATA or greater, according to the UHMS (Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other third-party providers.

The mechanisms of hyperbaric oxygen therapy are based upon three gas laws:

According to Boyle’s law, the volume of a gas at constant temperature varies inversely with pressure.

The amount of gas dissolved in a liquid or tissue is proportional to the partial pressure of that gas in contact with the liquid or tissue, according to Henry’s law. This is the basis for hyperbaric oxygen treatments that result in elevated tissue oxygen tensions. The majority of oxygen in the blood is attached to hemoglobin, which is 97% saturated under normal atmospheric pressure. At higher pressures, oxygen can be carried in the plasma of the blood (Henry’s law), allowing oxygen to reach parts of the body that are normally inaccessible for healing. This is especially true for persons with medical problems that limit the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.

According to Dalton’s law, in a mixed gas, each element exerts pressure proportional to its fraction of total volume (partial pressure).

What are the Different Types of Chambers Used in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

A hyperbaric chamber is required to modify the ambient pressure required for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. At normal sea level pressure, breathing 100% oxygen will not result in healing. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers are classified into three types: monoplace chambers, multiplace chambers, and mild chambers.

Monoplace Chambers

A monoplace chamber is designed and approved for only one person. These chambers can be filled with either medical-grade oxygen or normal room air. Patients that are pressured with 100% oxygen breathe the oxygen directly while receiving care. Patients who are pressured by ordinary air will breathe 100% oxygen using a breathing mask. The ordering physician prescribes a certain atmospheric pressure for each patient for each session. Pressures in monoplace chambers typically range from 1.5 to 3.0 ATA.

Monoplace Chambers

Monoplace Chambers are typically constructed with an acrylic tube that allows patients to look through to watch TV through, as well as an internal audio system that communicates with a hyperbaric technician who monitors patients from outside the chamber at all times. Monoplace chambers, which are FDA-approved to treat 14 different illnesses, are often encountered in both hospital and private office settings.

Multiplace Chambers

Multiplace chambers are designed to accommodate multiple patients at once. A multiplace chamber can be as little as two people and as large as eight, twelve, or even twenty-four persons in capacity. Because of their small size, these chambers are pressurized with standard room air, and each patient wears a customized mask or hood to breathe 100% oxygen. Because all patients treated at the same time will be treated at the same atmospheric pressure, it is customary for patients to be classified based on their condition. A multiplace chamber’s maximum pressure can reach 6 ATA.

Patients may sit on a bench or individual chairs or recliners within the chamber while receiving therapy, depending on their health and the arrangement of the chamber, and may be joined by the hyperbaric technician as well as other patients. Inside, many multiplace rooms will include a TV for patients’ pleasure, with everyone watching the same show. Multiplace chambers can be found in private offices, but they are more frequent in hospitals or trauma centers.

Mild Chambers

Mild hyperbaric chambers differ from the other two varieties in their structure, setup, and capabilities. Mild chambers are frequently referred to as “soft” chambers, a reference to the material used to make the chamber’s shell, which is commonly canvas or elastic plastic. Mild chambers, which are pressured with room air up to 1.3 ATA, or 10 feet under saltwater, are FDA-approved for just the temporary treatment of Acute Mountain Sickness. Patients in a mild chamber breathe compressed air rather than 100% oxygen as in a hard chamber. Mild hyperbaric chambers have a more limited range of applications due to their low pressure and use of compressed air rather than pure oxygen.

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What to Expect From HBOT?

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

What To Expect When Undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

How do the Mechanics of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy work?

What are the Different Types of Chambers Used in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

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